Finding the gaps in the market, the opportunities for new or modified products that satisfy a new or unanswered consumer need, is the aspiration of many brand owners. However, many of these ‘gaps’ in the market turn out to be holes down which much time, effort, money, and even careers disappear. In this chapter, I show how you can use the principle of the Shape of Taste to help identify opportunities for new products and to create new products and product ranges that meet consumers’ emotional needs and so are more likely to succeed.
People love new experiences, new products. Supermarkets love big banners to advertise ‘new’ lines. We love to tell friends and colleagues about a new product or experience that we have just ‘discovered.’ They are exciting, they add variety and often improve our lives. But, in reality, consumers are very cautious about anything new and at least 80 percent of new products do not survive. (Estimates do vary on the failure rate of new products depending upon definitions of a new product and of success and failure.) This can be rooted in a distrust of the unknown, an unconscious bias for the known, safe option rather than the unproven. It may be a nervousness about spending money on, or giving our time to, something that might not be as good as the trusted alternative, of letting ourselves down when others don’t like what we have bought for them.
So, companies are cautious about the new lines they offer. It can cost millions to develop and launch a new line, and careers often depend on its success. Most ‘new’ lines are just a flavor variant or small adaptation of an existing successful product. The Pareto principle applies here: 80 percent familiar and 20 percent new helps everyone to feel comfortable with a familiar product that they know how and when to use with a new and exciting twist that makes it feel different.
If a new product is to be adopted, it must have a strong emotional resonance with the consumer. This is not a rational, logical evaluation of the product advantages against alternatives, but an emotional belief that this will improve your life, or the lives of your family or others close to you. The taste or texture will enhance your enjoyment of it. The new ingredients will benefit your or your loved ones’ health. You believe buying this product is better for the environment or local economy, and that will make you feel better about it and about yourself.
Initial attraction and excitement at a concept, even the strongest logical reasoning, is not enough. The consumer has to be attracted on an emotional level; they have to believe it will improve their life.
If a new fruit juice has reduced sugar and 50 percent fewer calories, or a new yogurt contains more strawberries and has an ‘improved flavor’, these are unlikely to motivate consumers in themselves. Motivation to purchase and to then keep purchasing is far more likely if they believe that the fruit juice will help them to lose weight or will save their children’s teeth from decaying, or that their family will love the strawberries in their yogurt and appreciate them for buying it.
Understanding the consumers’ emotional requirements and how these can be met through the brand and product experience is key.
You can buy my new book, The Shape of Taste, here:
Chris Lukehurst is a Consumer Psychologist and a Director at The Marketing Clinic:
Providing Clarity on the Psychological relationships between consumers and brands
